HM Customs and Excise
HM Customs and Excise was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the collection of customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes.
Payments of customs dues have occurred in Britain for over one thousand years, and HMCE was formed from predecessor bodies with a long history.
With effect from 18 April 2005, HMCE merged with the Inland Revenue to form a new department: HM Revenue and Customs.
Activities
The three main functions of HMCE were revenue collection, assessment and preventive work, alongside which other duties were performed.Revenue collection
On behalf of HM Treasury, officers of HM Customs and Excise levied customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes.Assessment
Officers spent significant amounts of time in docks, warehouses and depots and on board newly arrived ships assessing dutiable goods and cargoes. Specialist tools were provided e.g. for the measurement of containers or the specific gravity of alcohol.Preventive work
HMCE was responsible for managing the import and export of goods and services into the UK; as such, its officers were active in the detection and prevention of attempts to evade the revenue laws, for example through smuggling or illicit distillation of alcohol. Since the early 17th century, the searching of vessels for illicit goods when undertaken by customs officers has been called 'rummaging'.Other
For various reasons HMCE and its predecessors had accrued a variety of other responsibilities over the years, some of which had nothing to do with revenue collection and protection. Many of these additional duties pertained to the regulation of activities in UK coastal waters on behalf of HM Government. Thus at various times in the 20th century HMCE was involved in receiving, regulating or recording:- import and export licences
- trade statistics
- light dues
- wrecks
- embargoes
- quarantine and other public health restrictions
- occupational licensing
- registration of moneylenders
- exchange controls
- ship registration
- immigration control
Location
Historically, the Board of Customs and the Board of Excise were 'the only Crown Services organised on a country-wide basis'. Custom houses were to be found in all major ports of entry. Excise Offices were located both around the coast and inland.
The nation's borders were the prime location for much of HMCE's work. Before the 20th century the UK's only border was its coastline and customs activity was focused around the coast. The establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 gave the United Kingdom a land border, which also required customs checkpoints; later, customs officers were needed at airports as well. As well as administering Customs declarations, HM Customs and Excise staff had responsibility for guarding the borders of the United Kingdom from smugglers. To try to achieve this, HMCE and its predecessors had a history of operating both on land and at sea.
Headquarters
The historic headquarters of HM Customs was the Custom House on Lower Thames Street in the City of London. This went on to become the headquarters of HMCE when the Excise head office moved there from Somerset House in 1909. Later, however, the Commissioners along with most of the headquarters staff were forced to move out after the building was damaged in a bombing raid in December 1940. They moved initially to Finsbury Square, then in 1952 to the newly built King's Beam House in Mark Lane. In 1987 the headquarters staff moved again to New King's Beam House 22 Upper Ground London SE1 in the area of Southwark.Corporate structure
The 1909 amalgamation of the Customs and Excise services required a new corporate structure, which substantially remained in place until 1971. The new Board of Customs and Excise had oversight of three inter-linked branches, each with its own management structure:- The Headquarters staff
- The Outdoor Service
- The Waterguard.
The Headquarters Staff had oversight of policy implementation and management, as well as providing central accounting, legal and administrative services; its operation was akin to that of a government department.
The Outdoor Service was divided into geographical areas called Collections, each overseen by a Collector. Initially there were ninety-two Collections but these were later reduced: to thirty-nine by 1930, twenty-nine by 1971. The Collections were subdivided into Districts within which were several Stations, each staffed by one or more Officers of Customs and Excise. In each Collection, the Stations were responsible for assessment of duty while the Collector's Office focused on collection of revenue.
The Waterguard carried out preventive work; it worked closely alongside the Outdoor Service but was separately constituted with its own management structure and its own geographical 'Divisions'.
After 1971, management structures were streamlined and unified, with Civil Service grades replacing the previous disparate ranking structures in most areas. At the same time the Waterguard ceased to operate as a separate body, although uniformed customs officers continued to be involved in preventive work.
Personnel
The majority of the Headquarters staff belonged to the Civil Service grades.The main grades in the outfield were: clerical staff, Officer of C&E, Allowanced Officer of C&E, Surveyor of C&E – all of which were at 'district' level and then Assistant Collector, Deputy Collector and Collector. The regions of London Port and Liverpool were graded as slightly higher than the others. All grades were amalgamated and incorporated into the general Civil Service grades in 1971.
Established in the mid-twentieth century to combat fraud and drug smuggling, the Investigation Division was headed by a Chief Investigation Officer, equivalent in rank to a Collector, assisted by a Deputy Chief Investigation Officer and a number of Assistant Chief Investigation Officers. Each team of, usually, six was headed by a Senior Investigation Officer and consisted of a mix of Investigation Officers and Higher Investigation Officers.
Officers of the Waterguard had their own rank structure, namely: Assistant Preventive Officer, Preventive Officer and Chief Preventive Officer ; all these routinely wore uniform. Higher grades were the Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent, neither of whom wore a uniform. After 1971 the Waterguard was renamed the Preventive Service and integrated into the main structure of HMCE. POs were renamed Executive Officers and APOs Assistant Officers .
Customs & Excise officers had authority throughout the country, including the powers of entry to premises and of arrest.
HMCE had an overall headcount of 23,000 staff in 2004 before the merger with Inland revenue.
Uniform
The uniform worn by officers of the Waterguard was identical to Royal Navy officers’ uniform with the exception of the cap badge, buttons and the cuff rank lace.Prior to 1946, Chief Preventive Officers wore two and a half gold stripes on their uniform while Preventive Officers had one stripe and Assistant Preventive Officers no stripe. After that date CPOs wore three stripes, POs two stripes and APOs one stripe. All uniformed grades wore a Navy curl; CPOs were further distinguished by having a row of gold oak leaves on the peak of the cap.
After 1971 the same uniform was adopted by uniformed officers of the Preventive Service.
Corporate history
The Board of Customs, responsible for collecting duties levied on imported goods, and the Board of Excise, responsible for raising revenue from inland taxes, were both established in the 17th century. The raising of excise duties also dates from this time, but the levying of customs duties has a far longer history, the first written reference being found in an eighth-century charter of King Aethelbald.Following the 1707 Act of Union a separate Scottish Board of Customs and Scottish Excise Board were constituted; a century later separate boards were likewise established for Ireland. By an Act of Parliament dated 2 May 1823, these and the English Boards were consolidated to form a single Board of Excise and a single Board of Customs for the whole United Kingdom.
These boards were made up of commissioners, appointed under the Great Seal of the Realm.